The Classical Doctrine of Indian Medicine: Its Origins and its Greek Parallels c8.102

c8.102

Harimán, “the yellow”, is naturally taken to be jaundice, which goes well with yakṣma, the jaundice which is regularly accompanied by thinning and asthma. On other occasions the Atharvaveda exercises the same, specially in the hymn, I, 22. It is sent back to the Sun conjointly with the “brilliance which is in the heart” (hṛdyotá), that is to say, apparently, the supposed cause of jaundice: an internal flash of yellow colour, like that of the Sun and which radiates outwards through the skin and the eyes (principally the eyes if the skin is dark). The same hymn also sends jaundice to the birds, parrots and others, of whom certain varieties are yellow.¹ One could also admit that *harimán* can stand for copper or fawn-coloured spots on the skin like the ones produced by leprosy.